birth
Americannoun
-
births
plural
-
an act or instance of being born.
the day of his birth.
-
the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition.
a difficult birth.
-
lineage; extraction; descent.
of Grecian birth.
-
high or noble lineage.
to be foolishly vain about one's birth.
-
natural heritage.
a musician by birth.
-
any coming into existence; origin; beginning.
the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.
- Synonyms:
- inauguration, genesis, inception, commencement, start
-
Archaic. something that is born.
verb (used with object)
-
births,
present (3rd person singular)
-
birthed,
past participle, past
-
birthing
present participle
-
to give birth to.
-
to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.
idioms
noun
-
the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth
-
the act or fact of being born; nativity
-
the coming into existence of something; origin
-
ancestry; lineage
of high birth
-
noble ancestry
a man of birth
-
natural or inherited talent
an artist by birth
-
archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother
-
-
to bear (offspring)
-
to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
birthsimple
-
birthssimple
-
have birthedperfect
-
has birthedperfect
-
am birthingprogressive
-
are birthingprogressive
-
is birthingprogressive
-
have been birthingperfect progressive
-
has been birthingperfect progressive
Past
-
birthedsimple
-
had birthedperfect
-
was birthingprogressive
-
were birthingprogressive
-
had been birthingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of birth
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; cf. bear 1 ( def. ), -th 1 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The exposed information also includes student grade level, date of birth and the school and district students attend.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Rayner said that the "hell" she went through after the 2008 premature birth of her son, Charlie, has given her the strength to deal with anything that comes her way in Westminster.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Holmes gave birth to their first child, a son, ahead of her criminal fraud trial.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
She explained that she didn't retake the bar exam upon returning to the United States due to the birth of her first child.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Valerie had scouted places and spoke often about spending more time with the twins she’d given birth to, and even raising chickens.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Yi said he cross-checks census records against school enrollments, hospital births, vaccine batches and household registrations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
But with Xuan and Zhang controlling the firm that arranged the surrogate births, no one looked into their backgrounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Higher levels of education, Hispanic ethnicity and Tricare-paid births were associated with fewer deaths.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Closely spaced pregnancies, premature births and low birth weight can follow, while young mothers struggle to breastfeed and care for their children.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The Day of Sacrifice was weeks away, but there would be no more births in the ensuing time.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
“That kind of birthed in me the idea of how special it would be to get some pictures of our team at our local In-N-Out because it’s such a special place for them,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
More bluntly, for many outside the tech world, these companies will be birthed as the bad guys, a remarkable swing from the early 2010s when founders were venerated as cultural heroes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
But as Caulfield noted, the wellness movement has undergone a major cultural change in the past half-decade that has made it almost unrecognizable from the movement that birthed MAHA.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Its complexity has birthed an industry of affordable-housing-focused developers, investors, lawyers and accounting specialists who profit off the tax credit.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
Pap laughed and shouted, “Man alive! That ol’ dog done birthed three hunters!
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Ultimately, World War II in Asia was about the dismantling of three empires—British, Dutch and French—and the birthing of new nations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Zika can spread from a birthing parent to their child in the womb and cause congenital disabilities, which notoriously led to panic after an outbreak erupted in Brazil in 2015.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Like the spine, the human pelvis must balance two competing demands: efficient bipedal walking and birthing large-brained infants.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
The state plans to later expand to additional hospitals and birthing centers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
It was, she knew, where the Products were taken after the birthing.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
